Sunburst at Sunset
by MargaretNet

Comment:
a little too processed for my taste and those trees take up the majority of what your eye goes to here. my thoughts would be to drop the trees (and 15% of your processing strength) and give viewers this vista with that sky and i'd expect you've got yourself a ribbon contender on your hand.
6 from me otherwise.

The Early Bird Gets The ... Nectar
by GeneralE

Comment:
removed commentary regarding silhouette challenge comparison, and please accept my apology on this as it was not a proper thing to do

i do still find the tree silhouette overly much here, but you can't keep the bird in the capture with the sun otherwise, so i can understand the crop being what it is.

still have to keep this at a 5 for now, we'll see if it gets a bump up on my 2nd pass when i've finished the entirety of my voting

Don't let the sun go down on me
by Enlightened

Comment:
deleted silhouette-based comment.

voting this on it's own merit without the silhouette challenge as a factor:
i find the row of people on the point to be a fascinating subject to choose to capture, many times over we see a single figure standing triumphantly on a hill in sunset imagery, this is a pleasant break from that norm.
at first i wanted more drama in the sky in the form of some contrasting clouds, but upon just watching this for a while i'm happy with the tranquil scene and the longing for my annual camping trip to the cottage.

a 6 from me on this

End of the Day
by pmichaud

Comment:
the orange-purple-green is distracting to me.
i can understand some shadow in the distance, but the area of purple ground looks to be almost digitally processed into the picture.
i have since looked up purple sunsets and found that they are becoming more common in areas with a large concentration of air pollution causing the red/yellow/orange waves to be filtered out more, where areas with high concentrations of salt in the air (oceans, etc) have more of the ultraviolet wavelengths filtered out.
revised score on this is getting a 6 from me (and an apology for the implication of digitally 'painting' or tone-shifting the colors).

"sun-set"
by mrbig65

Comment:
a very "real" sunset picture. i'm sure what you were seeing was a bit brighter in the foreground, and it would have been nice to see some of that, but it still looks like a lovely sight to have seen :)
a 5 from me

The Sky Ablaze, The Sentinel Silent
by CNovack

Comment:
honestly i would have loved this in the silhouette challenge, or if there was no silhouette challenge going on at the same time.
voting this on it's own merits, assuming the silhouette challenge did not exist, i do find the sky too soft. the color is fine, but i'd love to see it more in focus and dramatic.
6

outback
by Abra

Comment:
i find the flare and especially the red dot are very distracting, and the lower clouds look too dark, initial thought was due to processing. my initial comment on this photo included commentary out of place due to the following challenge being about silhouette, but that should truly hold no bearing on my voting in this challenge.
i want to like the sky more, the gradient from yellow/orange to the blue up higher should be the highlight, but there is too much negative space in the bottom with the dark clouds for me to truly say i love this photo
6

Bank over the Canal
by RyanW

Comment:
indeed.
I wanted a different angle than you had, so as to keep people from thinking it was your entry twice in a row with the same shot, apparently despite the fact that the camera was level when i shot it, the visible parts of the bridge really had people thinking this was a tilted horizon and that cost me points.

i work near the bridge (at billings) and frequently end up driving along the canal to get to meetings downtown, so when this came up i knew that i wanted to try to bring some life to the bridge at the 10" exposure with the lights on the water giving some drama to the scene (was my hope at least). it's hard to really tell where the best place to shoot this would be given the bend a short distance down and the cars and cycles that come (or at least seemed to come while i was standing there) speeding along at night.

perhaps i'll go back in the middle of the night some time when there should be little-to-no traffic about and some calm water to get a picture that i'd like to print and put on my wall

Solstice Sunrise
by vikas

Comment:
I quite enjoy this image. i don't really feel like typing up more than that right now, perhaps i will later, it's almost the end of day for me at work and i've been doing voting/commenting for a while now in between other tasks...i'm just happy to go out for the day on something i like instead of another silhouette 2 days early.

*please note, this comment may change before the end of voting based on discussing the aspects of the image that i feel work/don't work.
for now, i'm giving it a 7 and stopping

Can you hear the sound of loneliness
by Judi

Comment:
great drama going on here, but i want more. literally, it's too small.
6